NFLR Lab
About NFLR Research laboratories
The NFLR lab consists of three floors in a separate building located at “7, CLC Works Road, Chrompet, Chennai”. Approximately 2000 sq. ft. of laboratory space (for Cell laboratory), with state- of-the-art facility in scientific supplies and equipment in the 3rd floor is available for basic research. We currently have the laboratory focusing on stem cell research and regenerative medicine to treat liver diseases. Apart from that we have a sophisticated animal lab with an animal operation theatre and individual units for various animal experiments on the first floor. The labs have separate air handling units and are designed as per international standards. The vision of the lab is to replace liver transplant with a fully functional 3D organotypic liver.
Publications from NFLR
- Martin CA†, Subathra Radhakrishnan†, Reddy MS, Venkatraman J, Varghese J and Rela M (2016). Collagen Rich Scaffolds for Liver Engineering: A Step Forward to an Artificial Liver. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology. 6. S86-S87. († Authors contributed equally). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jceh.2016.06.144.
- Subathra Radhakrishnan, Trentz OA, Parthasarathy VK, Sellathamby S (2017). Human Adipose Tissue-Derived Stem Cells Differentiate to Neuronal-like Lineage Cells without Specific Induction. Cell Biol. (Henderson, NV) 6:1. DOI: https://10.4172/2324-9293.1000131.
- Subathra Radhakrishnan, Trentz OA, Reddy MS, Rela M, Kandasamy M, Sellathamby S. (2019). In vitro transdifferentiation of human adipose tissue-derived stem cells to neural lineage cells – a stage-specific incidence, Adipocyte, 8:1, 164-177. DOI: https://10.1080/21623945.2019.1607424.
- Subathra Radhakrishnan, Trentz OA, Martin CA, Reddy MS, Rela M, Chinnarasu M, Kalkura N and Sellathamby S. (2019). Effect of passaging on the stemness of infrapatellar fat Pad derived stem cells and potential role of nucleostemin as a prognostic marker of impaired stemness, Mol. Med. Rep., 20: 813-829. https://doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2019.10268.
- Martin CA†, Subathra Radhakrishnan†, Nagarajan S, Muthukoori S, Jos´e Luis JMMD, Ribelles G, Lakshmi BS, Nivethaa E. A. K, G´omez-Tejedor JA, Reddy MS, Sellathamby S, Rela M, and Subbaraya NK. (2019). An innovative bioresorbable gelatin-based 3D scaffold that maintains the stemness of adipose tissue-derived stem cells and the plasticity of differentiated neurons, RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 14452–14464. († Authors contributed equally). DOI: https://10.1039/c8ra09688k.
- Nivethaa EAK, Baskar S, Catherine Ann Martin, Ramana Ramya, Stephen A, Narayanan V, Lakshmi BS, Olga V. Frank-Kamenetskaya, Subathra Radhakrishnan & Narayana Kalkura S. (2020). A competent bio-drug-loaded water-soluble chitosan derivative for the effective inhibition of breast cancer, Scientific Reports, 10:3991 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60888-5.
- Hariharan, A., Hakeem, A. R., Subathra Radhakrishnan, Reddy, M. S., & Rela, M. (2020). The Role and Therapeutic Potential of NF-kappa-B Pathway in Severe COVID-19 Patients. Inflammopharmacology. DOI: https://10.1007/s10787-020-00773-9.
- Subathra Radhakrishnan, Martin CA, Dhyanithy G, Reddy MS, Rela M, Kalkura N, and Sellathamby S. Hypoxic preconditioning induces neuronal differentiation of infrapatellar fat pad stem cells through epigenetic alteration. ACS Chem. Neurosci. 2021, 12, 4, 704–718. DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.0c00728.
- EAK Nivethaa, J Sivasankari, S Baskar, Catherine Ann Martin, N Sivanandham, S Narayana Kalkura, Enhanced inhibition of breast cancer by a dose reduced- dual anticancer drug-loaded CMCS/Au nanocomposite, Materials Letters, Volume 318,2022,132123,ISSN 0167-577X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2022.132123.
Key Paper and Poster presented from NFLR
- Paper presented at “BISED – 2018” National conference on Biotechnological innovations for Socio-economic Development and won first prize for the paper entitled “Implications of passages in differentiation protocols of Adipose tissue-derived stem cells- can nucleostemin be a predictive indicator?”
- Paper presented at “ICAMSE -2018” International conference on advances in materials science and engineering for societal applications titled “on Collagen –pectin scaffolds for wound healing”.
- Paper Presented at National Conference on recent trends in Biotechnology (Bio-Trends – 2016) held at NIOT, Chennai, India. “Spontaneous Induction of Human infrapatellar fat pat tissue-derived stem cells to neuronal-like lineage cells”.
- Participated as a delegate and presented an oral talk titled “Effect of passaging on the stemness of infrapatellar fat Pad derived stem cells and potential role of nucleostemin as a prognostic marker of impaired stemness” at BioTERM 2019, International Conference on Biomaterial–based therapeutic engineering and Regenerative medicine.
- Poster presented at Neuro update 2020 International conference and won third prize in the poster presentation for the poster entitled “In vitro physiological condition regulates neurotransmitter re specification or switching during stem cells differentiation to neurons”.
- Poster presented at 24th Annual scientific meeting (2016) of Indian Association for the study of the liver (25 credit hours) titled “collagen-based 3D scaffold for hepatic regeneration”.
- Poster presented at BIOMET- 2018 International Conference on Biomaterials, Bioengineering, and Biotheranostics titled “Implications of passages in differentiation protocols of Adipose tissue-derived stem cells”.
- Poster Presented at ICCB- 2018 International conference on Cell Biology, a poster entitled “Neuronal potential of human infrapatellar fat pad derived Adipose tissue-derived Stem cells”.
- Paper presented at National virtual conference on recent breakthroughs in Biotechnology (2021). Analysis of alternate extrinsic signaling of stem cells-derived neuroprogenitor revealed developmental mechanisms with varied outcomes. Conducted by the Society of Biotechnologists India (SBTI).
Belgium Visit

Our Scientists recent visit at C.U.B. Erasme Hospital, Belgium…
Prof. Dr. Thierry Gustot is currently the Clinical Director of the Liver Transplant Unit at the C.U.B. Erasme Hospital and Senior Lecturer at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium. His research focusses on Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure, infectious complications of cirrhosis, alcoholic hepatitis, critical illness in cirrhosis and inflammation associated with advanced liver diseases.
Professor Thierry Gustot, who is already working on a project with Prof. Mohamed Rela, is deeply enthusiastic about the knowledge transfer program and recognizes its potential to enhance scientific understanding and research outcomes. In pursuit of this goal, he took the proactive step of inviting our scientists, Dr. Subathra Radhakrishnan and Dr. Catherine Ann Martin, from the renowned Institute. This invitation was extended to facilitate a scientific interaction session, which served as an invaluable platform for discussing collaborative possibilities.
During the interaction session, participants likely engaged in in-depth discussions about their respective areas of expertise, ongoing research projects, and shared interests. The environment fostered an atmosphere of open communication, encouraging the exchange of innovative ideas and methodologies. The potential for joint research endeavors, collaborative projects, and knowledge sharing was undoubtedly explored, with both parties recognizing the mutual benefits of such partnerships.